The winners in this year’s Amorim Cap Classique Challenge will take centre stage at the week of Cape Wine 2015, the South African wine industry’s international showcase when the results are announced at the 12 Apostles Hotel and Spa on 14 September.
Amorim Cork president Antonio Amorim will travel to Cape Town from Amorim HQ in Santa Maria de Lamas in Portugal to present the awards.
Méthode Cap Classique producers have until 24 June to submit their wines for this year’s Amorim Méthode Cap Classique Challenge, the only competition dedicated exclusively to MCC wines. Amorim Cork SA, which is sponsoring the event for the 14th consecutive year, is the convenor of this unique wine competition in conjunction with the Cap Classique Producers Association.
“This will be the first time the Amorim MCC Challenge hosts its awards function before an international audience, and we believe it will help to give this dynamic South African wine category the global reach it deserves,” says Joaquim Sá, MD of Amorim SA.
Joaquim Sá, MD of Amorim SA.
This year’s MCC Challenge also sees a change in judging procedures in that categories have been narrowed with judging no longer being done separately on vintage and non-vintage wines. Cap Classiques will be judged in the following categories: Blanc de Blancs, Rosé, Blended Brut and a Museum Class for wines including and before the 2008 vintage. To promote inclusivity among producers, entries are open to non-members of the Cap Classique Producers Association.
According to Pieter Ferreira, chairperson of the Cape Classique Producers Association, the change to combine vintage and non-vintage wines in one category was made as a stylistic decision that has been ‘under the radar’ for some time now.
Antonio Amorim, president of Amorim Cork International who will be travelling to Cape Town for the Amorim MCC Challenge.
“As a collective we believe this is a positive step to ensure the consumer gets a better understanding and a clearer message of the various styles of Cap Classique,” he says. “The way to do this is to unanimously select the best wine in each of the Brut, Blanc de Blancs and Rosé categories. Since entries have opened for this year’s Amorim MCC Challenge, this new step has been welcomed by producers and is endorsed by the Association.”
Sá says the MCC Competition has played a major role in making naturally fermented sparkling wines one of the leading categories in the South African wine industry.
“As proud sponsors for 14 years Amorim has seen the dynamic evolution in quality, diversity in styles and winemaker commitment within this category,” he says. “The fizz in the tale, however, has been the way the South African public has embraced Méthode Cap Classique allowing sales to flourish and to warrant the investments producers have made in the production of this style of wine.”
“The judging panel will be announced in due course, but will sit under the convenorship of Cape Wine Master Allan Mullins, South Africa’s leading MCC expert and judge,” says Sá.
Entries cost R500 for Cap Classique Producers Association members and R1 500 for non-members. Non-members entering this year’s competition will gain complimentary Association membership for one year.
For further enquiries regarding entries, contact Elsabé Ferreira Promotions at (021) 863-1552 or e-mail [email protected]. Website: www.capclassique.co.za.
